page_title: GCHQ Bude
section_title: Satellite installations
hierarchical_section_title: GCHQ Bude / Satellite installations
caption_attribution_description: English: Various satellite dishes at GCHQ Bude in Cornwall.
context_page_description: GCHQ Bude, also known as GCHQ Composite Signals Organisation Station Morwenstow, abbreviated to GCHQ CSO Morwenstow, is a UK Government satellite ground station and eavesdropping centre located on the north Cornwall coast at Cleave Camp, between the small villages of Morwenstow and Coombe. It is operated by the British signals intelligence service, officially known as the Government Communications Headquarters, commonly abbreviated GCHQ. It is located on part of the site of the former World War II airfield, RAF Cleave.
context_section_description: GCHQ Bude station comprises twenty one satellite antennae of various sizes, including three that have a diameter of 30 m (100 ft), that could theoretically cover all the main frequency bands: L band, C band, Kᵤ band, X band, Kₐ band, and V band.  Calculated on the basis of their position, their elevation, and their compass (azimuth) angle, the antennae are generally orientated towards satellites of the INTELSAT, Intersputnik, and INMARSAT communications networks over the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, and the Indian Ocean, as well as towards the Middle East and mainland Europe.  Somewhere between 2011 and 2013, a torus antenna was installed, which is able to receive the signals of up to thirty-five satellites simultaneously.  This antenna is not covered by a radome.
  Staff are drawn from GCHQ (UK) and the NSA (US), and the station is operated under the UKUSA agreement, gathering data for the ECHELON signals intelligence (SIGINT) network.  Comparable stations in operation include RAF Menwith Hill (UK), Sugar Grove Station (West Virginia, US), Yakima (Washington, US), Sabana Seca (Puerto Rico), Misawa Air Base (Japan), Pine Gap (Australia), Geraldton (Australia), GCSB Waihopai (New Zealand), and GCSB Tangimoana (New Zealand), that cover other INTELSAT areas such as South America and the Pacific Ocean.
caption: The different types satellite receivers at GCHQ Bude; including 'naked' parabolic antennae along with hidden antenna covered by a radome.
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